Staple



1968 J. J. TRZESNIEWSKI 3,368,445

STAPLE Original Filed Oct. 6, 1964 IN VENTOR JOSEPH! ikzssmswsm UnitedStates Patent Ofifice 3,368,445 Patented Feb. 13, 1968 3,368,445 STAPLEJoseph J. Trzesniewski, 1711 W. Lincoln Ave., Milwaukee, Wis. 53215Continuation of application Ser. No. 401,859, Oct. 6,

1964. This application Dec. 2, 1966, Ser. No. 607,109 6 Claims. (Cl.85-49) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSURE A staple for fastening sheets ofmaterial together and formed of a leg having a penetrating point at oneend and two diverging arms branching from the opposite end. Thepenetrating point is forced through the sheets of material and the legis bent into engagement with one side of the material. The two arms arebent relative to the leg into engagement with the opposite side of thematerial with the leg being disposed between the two arms to cooperatewith them for firmly clamping the sheets of material between the pair ofarms on one side and the leg on the other side.

This is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 401,859, filedOct. 6, 1964.

This invention relates generally to staples and more particularly to animproved staple for stapling paper or other similar thin sheet material.

The conventional wire paper staple is furnished with its two ends bent90 from the central length or bridge and the two ends are disposedparallel to each other. The two ends are forced through. the paper thatis to be clipped together and then bent another 90 against the bridge.As a result, the two ends are then bent 180 toward each other tounderlie the bridge which is then disposed on one side of the paperswhile the two ends are on the opposite side of the papers that are beingclipped together. Since the two ends are tightly bent against the bridgeof the staple it is troublesome to engage these ends and bend thembackwardly for removing the staple. In removing such staple a personwill normally attempt to insert a fingernail between the underlying endsand the bridge for the purpose of prying them apart. Such procedure mayresult in a broken fingernail or other dis comfort to the person andusually the paper becomes torn in the process. In order to avoid thesedifficulties various instruments have been made available to facilitatethe removal of such staples.

It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide animproved paper staple that is especially adapted to facilitate itsmanual removal from the paper.

Another object is to provide an improved paper staple that may beconveniently removed from the paper without the use of specialinstrumentsfor this purpose.

Another object is to provide a paper staple that may be manually removedfrom the paper to which it is attached without tearing the paper.

A further object is to provide a paper staple that is easy to removefrom the paper to which it is attached but which will firmly engage thepaper and hold it together until the staple is removed.

A further object is to provide a paper staple that is of simple andinexpensive construction but efiicient in operation.

According to this invention the improved paper staple comprises a wireformed into the shape of a Y. Prior to attachment to the paper, the twoarms of the V portion of the Y are bent into a plane that is displacedapproximately 90 from the vertical leg of the Y. Thus, when the two armsof the V are in a horizontal plane the leg of the Y will besubstantially vertical. The staple is attached to the paper by simplyinserting the leg of the Y through the several sheets of paper that arebeing clipped together and the leg is then bent into the same plane thatcontains the two arms of the V portion with the leg being centrallydisposed between the two arms. With this arrangement the paper issecurely held together by the two arms engaging the top sheet of paperand co.- operating with the single leg of the staple which is contactingthe bottom sheet of paper.

The staple of the present invention can be very readily removed withouta special instrument and without harming the fingernails of the personor the paper by simply placing a finger between the two arms of thestaple over the leg and forcing the leg away from the two arms torelease the paper. The leg is then withdrawn through the same hole inthe paper through which it was inserted. In this manner the staple isreadily detached from the paper without causing any tears in the paperduring its removal.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention which will becomeapparent from the following detailed specification setting forth anillustrative embodiment, may be achieved by the particular articledepicted in and described in connection with the accompanying drawings,in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a staple incorporating thefeatures of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the staple depicted in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective exploded view illustrating sequentially therelative positions of the staples, paper and matrix when applying astaple to the paper for clipping the latter together;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of a staple applied to several sheets ofpaper for clipping the latter together;

FIGURE 5 is a bottom view of a punch employed to detach a staple from astack of staples, force the staple through the paper and reform thestaple for attaching it to the paper;

FIGURE 6 is an exploded view illustrating the staple and paper and thepunch and matrix mostly in vertical section and in side elevationshowing the punch depicted in FIG. 5 in operating relationship with amatrix for operating on a staple to attach the staple to paper with thestaple and paper being depicted in the proper relationship between thematrix and the punch; and v FIGURE 7 is a side elevational view of theparts depicted in FIG. 6 but the punch being shown in engagement withthe matrix with the staple and paper between them, the staple beingreformed and attached to the paper for clipping the sheets of papertogether.

Reference'is now made more particularly to the drawings and specificallyto FIGS. 1 and 2 thereof which illustrate a paper staple incorporatingthe features of the present invention. The staple 10 is formed of astrand of wire that is bent at substantially its midpoint to form adouble stranded rectilinear leg portion 11 in which the two strands ofwire are in juxtaposition along their entire length. The two ends of thestrand of wire are bent away from each other to form two single strandarms 12 and 13 that cooperate with each other to form a V with thejuncture of the two arms corresponding to their .point of connection tothe leg 11 as clearly illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The staple 10 isactually shaped in the form of a Y with the V portion being formed ofthe arms 12 and 13 and the leg of the Y corresponding to the leg 11 ofthe staple. However, instead of the V portion and the leg being in thesame plane, the illustrated emvertically while'the arms 12 and 13 areina substantially horizontal position.

The 180 bend of the strand of wire at the bottom of the leg 11 forms apoint 15 for penetrating the paper or other material that is to bestapled together. The top of the exploded perspective view in FIG. 3illustrates a plurality of staples stacked in a manner for packing in anappropriate stapling machine. The initial movements of a punch 20, shownin FIG. 6, separates the first staple 10 from the stack in the mannerrepresented by the second view of the solitary staple 10 in FIG. 3. Thepunch 20 continues the movement of the staple 10 downwardly to penetratetwo sheets of paper 21 and 22 that are to be stapled together by thestaple 10. The point of the staple 10 will enter the sheet of paper 21at a point 23 and proceed through the sheet of paper 22 into a recess 24formed in a matrix 25. As the point 15 enters the recess 24 it passesalong the curvilinear bottom surface of the recess 24 while the arms 12and 13 are rigidly secured by the punch 20. Accordingly, as the punchprogresses, the point 15 passes along the bottom surface of the recess24 and the leg 11 is bent upwardly along the underside of the sheet ofpaper 22 until it is substantially in the same plane as the arms 12 and13 and centrally disposed between the two arms 12 and 13 as clearlyshown in FIG. 4. The arms 12 and 13 are then on the top surface of thesheet 21 while the leg 11 is disposed in engagement with theundersurface of the sheet 22 with the two sheets 21 and 22 being locatedbetween the leg 11 and the arms 12 and 13. With this arrangement, thetwo sheets of paper 21 and 22 are securely stapled together.

Although the staple 10 serves to firmly secure the two sheets of paper21 and 22 together, the staple may be readily removed without theassistance of a special tool for this purpose. Since the leg 11 extendsin substantially the same plane as the arms 12 and 13 but in the spacebetween them it is a simple matter for a person to place his fingers oneither side of the leg 11 underneath the arms 12 and 13 and then placeanother finger between the arms 12 and 13 over the leg 11 and bend theleg 11 outwardly away from the arms 12 and 13. After the leg 11 has beenbent outwardly a sufiicient distance it may be conveniently withdrawnfrom the paper through the same hole that it penetrated the paper. Thestaple can be thus removed simultaneously bend the leg 90 upwardly intothe plane of the arms 12 and 13 as previously described.

When the punch 20 has completed its downward movement toward the matrix25 the several parts shown in FIG. 6 are finally in the positiondepicted in FIG. 7. As there shown, the leg 11 has been bent upwardlyapproximately 90 toward the arms 12 and 13 and the sheets of paper 21and 22 are tightly sandwiched between the bottom surface of the punch 20and the upper surface of the matrix 25. The leg 11 has penetrated bothsheets of paper 21 and 22 and entered the recess 24 so that it isdisposed on the underside of the sheet of paper 22. On the other hand,the arms 12 and 13 have been moved into engagement with the uppersurface of the sheet of paper 21. If the punch 20 is now removed fromthe matrix 25 the staple 10 will remain attached to the two sheets ofpaper 21 and 22 for clipping them together by reason of the fact thatthe arms 12 and 13 are on one side of the paper and the leg 11 is on theopposite side of the paper.

It will be noted that the recess 27 is provided with arcuate surfaces 30to form an arcuate configuration at the ends of each of the arms 12 and13 to cause their outer extremities to bend downwardly into engagementwith the surface of the paper as clearly shown in FIG. 7. This iscomplemented by the arcuate configuration of the bottom surface of therecess 24 in the matrix 25 with the are being formed in the oppositedirection so that the point 15 is bent upwardly as viewed in FIG. 7 intoenwithout producing any tears in the paper or in any way injuring theperson.

FIGURE 6 illustrates the punch and matrix that are utilized foractuating the staple 10 into clamping engagement with the sheets ofpaper with the staple and paper being illustrated as disposed betweenthe punch and matrix. The punch 20 includes an actuating knob 26 thatmay be grasped for actuating the matrix. A V shaped recess 27 is formedin the bottom side of the matrix 20 with the V being formed along theedge of the matrix as illustrated in FIG. 5 for receiving the arms 12and 13 of the staple 10.

As the punch 20 is moved downwardly by the operator, it engages the arms12 and 13 in the V shaped recess 27 and detaches the first staple 10from the stack which is shown at the top of FIG. 3. The single staple isthen moved downwardly with the leg 11 being disposed substantially 90 tothe sheets of paper 21 and 22. The sheets of paper 21 and 22 are shownin FIG. 6 above the top surface of the matrix 25 since the view has beenexploded for the sake of clarity. However, it should be understood thatin actual practice the two sheets of paper 21 and 22 would be lying ontop of each other with both sheets being disposed upon the top surfaceof the matrix 25. Accordingly, the point 15 is moved downwardly by theoperation of the punch 20 until it penetrates the paper and enters therecess 24 of the matrix 25. It will be noted that the leg 11 is locatedrelative to the recess 24 as illustrated in FIG. 6 so that the point 15will enter the recess 24 at one end thereof. Continued pressure by thepunch 20 upon the arms 12 and 13 causes the point 15 to pass along thebottom surface of the recess 24 and to gagement with the underside ofthe sheet of paper 22. With this arrangement, the extremities of thearms 12 and 13 make a slight dent in one side of the paper while thepoint 15 makes a similar dent in the opposite direction and on theopposite side of the paper with the dent formed by the point 15 beingbetween the two dents formed by the extremities of the arms 12 and 13.This produces a firm gripping of the surfaces of the paper to preventany inadvertent twisting of the staple 10 relative to the paper.

The arcuate configuration formed at the ends of the arms 12 and 13 bythe arcuate surface 30 of the recess 27 forces the extremities of thearms 12 and 13 beneath the upper surface of the matrix 25. In order toaccommodate for these bent extremities of the arms 12 and 13, a pair ofsemispherical recesses 31 and 32 are formed in the matrix 25 on eachside of the recess 24 as best seen in FIG. 3. With this arrangement, thedents formed in the papers by the extremities of the arms 12 and 13 canlikewise enter the recesses 31 and 32 so that there is no interferencewith the formation of these arcuate ends on the arms 12 and 13.

From the foregoing detailed description of the illustrative embodimentof the present invention, it will be apparent that a new and improvedstaple has been provided which is especially shaped into a configurationthat will firmly secure the material that is being stapled together butwhich may be readily disengaged from the material by a simplemanipulation of a persons fingers without in any way utilizing thefingernails for this purpose and without damaging the stapled material.

Although the illustrative embodiment of the invention has been describedin considerable detail for the purpose of making a full disclosure of apractical operative arrangement by means of which the invention may bepracticed, it is to be understood that various novel features of theinvention may be incorporated in other arrangements without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the subjoinedclaims.

The principles of the invention having now been fully explained inconnection with the foregoing description of embodying structure, Ihereby claim as my invention:

1. In a staple for fastening sheets of material together; a strand ofwire bent at substantially its midpoint defining two connected strandsof wire with a portion thereof in juxtaposition to form a rectilinearleg of double stranded wire having a penetrating point at one end and apair of arms extending from said leg and formed by branching theextremities of the wire from the end of said leg opposite saidpenetrating point, said arms diverging relative to each other from theirjuncture with the end of said leg and being located in a plane that isdisposed at an angle to said leg; whereby said penetrating point and itsassociated leg are inserted through the sheets of material beingfastened and bent relative to said arms into engagement With one side ofthe material while said arms are in engagement with the opposite side ofthe material with one arm on each side of said leg for fastening thesheets of material together.

2. A staple according to claim 1 wherein said arms extend from said legat substantially right angles thereto and form a V with each other withthe juncture of said arms with said leg being the base of the V and eacharm being formed of a single strand of wire.

3. In a staple fastening sheets of material together that lie flatagainst each other; a leg having a penetrating point at one end that isinserted through the sheets of material being fastened together with theleg and its penetrating point being in engagement with the first side ofthe material; and a pair of arms branching from the end of said legopposite the penetrating point, said arms diverging relative to eachother from their juncture with said leg and being in engagement with thesecond side of the material for cooperation with said leg to retain theseveral sheets of material together.

4. In a staple according to claim 3 wherein said leg extends betweensaid two arms with the sheets of material firmly clamped between saidpair of arms on one side and said leg on the opposite side.

5. In a staple according to claim 3 wherein said leg comprises a strandof wire bent substantially 180 at its midpoint defining two connectedstrands of wire with a portion thereof extending parallelly and inengagement with each other through the length of said portion to formsaid leg of double stranded wire with the 180 bend constituting saidpenetrating point at one end of said leg; said two strands of wirebranching outwardly from the end of said leg opposite said penetratingpoint to form said pair of diverging arms.

6. In a staple according to claim 3, wherein the extending extremity ofsaid leg is bent toward said material to securely engage the one side ofthe material and form a first indentation therein and the extending endsof each of said arms is bent toward said material to securely engage theopposite side of the material and form two indentations therein in adirection opposite to the direction of the first indentation formed bythe bent extremity of said leg.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 718,649 1/1903 Morehouse 49767,512 8/ 1904 Bronson et al 24-67 1,789,936 1/1931 Clifford 85-491,799,934 4/1931 Strid 85-83 2,620,832 12/1952 Alix et al. 85-7 CARL W.TOMLIN, Primary Examiner.

R. S. BRITTS, Assistant Examiner.

